One of my personal fave labels, Secretly Canadian, recently signed Philadelphia’s The War On Drugs, and they’re offering an EP, “Barrel Of Batteries,” for free as a zip file. Picture Byrdsy jangle and a delivery somewhere between Bob Dylan and Warren Zevon (and, on “Pushing Corn,” a little Arcade Fire crawl) and you’ll get the general idea. It’s a really great EP—my big complaint is that with only three proper songs (and two toss-off atmospheric instrumentals clocking in at less than 2 minutes each), you don’t really get to know the band before it’s over. That’s too bad, because I definitely want to know more. The good news: I understand a proper LP will drop this year.

WHERE IS BERKELEY PLACE?

Berkeley Place is also 6 blocks of Brooklyn real estate, emerging from Sackett St. and ending at Banana Hill, a small park that grows a foot each year from accumulated dog poop and dead rats. Though its denizens have gotten wealthier over the decades, Berkeley Place still houses folks of all backgrounds with interests in, well, everything.